They had an agreement to see same time same place the next day, and Tonia couldn't just wait for tomorrow to come. Was she falling in love? Could it be love at first sight? Nah, it wasn't love at first sight. She hadn't even felt anything when she first saw him, infact his accent had repulsed her, cos she thought he was faking it. Now that they've really got talking, she knew he was very real. The handsome face was real, the pink lips were real, the soft palm was real. She liked him, and she was gonna see him the next day.

* * *

The next day, they saw as agreed. They talked more and more about each other. He told Tonia he was the last in a family of four, his mum being the fourth person. His father was late and that's why he was named Babatunde. Tonia told him she was the last in a family of seven, five kids plus Dad and Mum. Dad worked outside the State but Mum worked for Dad, taking care of his kids for him. That's why she was so strict and wouldn't tolerate any waywardness from her kids. They had only one guy, the rest were girls. That day after walking her, he signed off with a bear hug which lasted for about two minutes. They both didn't wanna let go.
The next day, they met again, chatted as usual. Now Tonia was getting more and more comfortable with him. She laughed easily at his jokes, she teased him, tickled him to make him laugh, and punched him when he teased her. And that day, as he was about saying his goodbyes, he looked into her eyes, and kissed her. It was her first kiss, and it really made her giddy. That was when she knew she was in love with him.
The next day would be a Saturday, and she would be going for her weekend classes. He invited her to stop by at his place after her classes, to which she declined, because she had never visited a guy at home, and she was the shy time who wouldn't wanna meet his cousins and all. He told her not to worry, and that if she didn't want to come to their house, he had a friend who stayed close by and they could spend time there. Tonia said it was okay and that she would be there.
That day though, she developed cold feet and didn't show up, she wasn't just ready to be all alone with a guy. She ran home. They didn't see on Sunday, but on Monday morning when she was going for her computer classes, he saw her, and told her life was not like that. She apologised and promised to make it up to him that weekend. They continued seeing every evening on her way back from jamb lessons because his school was on break and he chose to stay back with his cousins till they resumed.
On that Saturday, she left classes early to be with him. She got to his gate by 3pm and he took her to his friend's house three blocks away from his. His friend's name was Folarin, and he stayed with his Uncle who was a gynecologist and hardly stayed in the house. They watched tv, talked and necked. At a point, Tunde kissed her passionately and didn't let go for about five minutes. When he paused to look at her face, her lower lip was swollen, and she could feel it. Again he kissed her, this time hungrily, and lifted her blouse, unhooked her bra to expose her firm breast with hard nipples. He tweaked her nipples and Tonia moaned out of pleasure. A mind told her to stop him, another told her she would die if she did. So she chose to relax and enjoy what Tunde was doing to her.
He had one hand on her breast and the other on her buttocks, he grabbed and squeezed hard, then lifted her skirt. The fight started when he inserted his hand in her panties. She had never gone that far with any man in her life, she disengaged her mouth from his and told him to leave her, but he didn't. She struggled, kicked and threatened to scream, yet he didn't leave her.
He had his way, forcefully inserted a finger into her, which was so tight and she screamed in pain. Her eyes were red and she could have killed him then and there. He pulled it out immediately.
'Am sorry, Tonia, to God am so sorry, I didn't know. I thought you were. . .please just forgive me, sincerely am very very sorry'
While he was busy singing sorry to her ears, she packed her books and left. He followed her. She didn't order him back, but she was mute and kept to herself all the way. He was aware of her anger, and kept quiet too, he didn't want to annoy her more by saying anything. When she was almost home, he said.
'Tonia, again am very sorry. I hope you won't stop seeing me cos of this, please will I see you on Monday?'
She smiled and said 'why not?', then she hugged him, and went home, thinking 'oh God, I almost lost it'.

On Monday, he was more relaxed and even had the nerve to tease her.
'My virgin girlfriend, who would have thought you are still one with all these mini skirts and those guys in your jamb lesson'
She punched him and replied 'you think say na every guy go bad like you? ashawo buruku'
They laughed over it and never talked about it again. They kept seeing every Monday to Saturday, Tonia kept falling more and more everyday, they kept kissing and necking. Until a certain saturday when he told her the next one would be his birthday. He said he wasn't gonna celebrate, all he wanted was to be with her. Meanwhile, he told her he wouldn't touch her till she was eighteen.
On his birthday, Tonia didn't bother to attend her classes at all. And he was even at Folarin's place before he came, beaming with smiles and so handsome. He brought a wine and once he got in, they both left Folarin in the living room and entered the bedroom. Now Tonia was no longer afraid of being alone with him, even in bed. She was so used to and comfortable with him. He got in, removed his shirt cos he said he didn't want it rumpled. Then he laid on the bed. Tonia removed her sandals and snuggled up to him. She rested her head on his shoulder while he touched her hair. Then he held her face and kissed her deeply. He fondled her breasts and pulled her nipples. He removed his trousers and Tonia noticed his full erection in his briefs, yet she knew he wouldn't take her virginity till she was eighteen, so she relaxed and kissed him more. He allowed him take off her clothes. Now she had only her panties on. Then he rubbed her clitoris without pulling her panties. He tickled her and she moaned out loudly. She was so wet and dripping. All of a sudden, he pulled off her panties.
'What do you wanna do?', she asked.
'Nothing baby, I just want to play with you, I won't break it' he answered with a shaky voice.
He continued rubbing her and sucking her nipples. She wet so wet that she didn't know when he suddenly inserted his middle finger deep into her, she gasped, and without stopping for a second, he inserted the second one, this time he forced it in, and Tonia cursed.
'Stop it, you are hurting me'
But he didn't stop, he made sure he inserted the second finger to the hilt inside her. Tonia was in pains and full of rage. She was about lashing out at him when he sealed her lips with kiss. She closed her eyes. Then he removed his shorts and brought out his manhood. With her eyes still closed, he pulled out his fingers from her and proceeded to rub his cap on her wet zone.
'Stop it' she struggled.
He held her down and whispered in her ear, 'baby please allow me, I have never been in love with anyone like this in my life. I am going nowhere. Please claim me by letting me do this. Make me your husband. Once I do this I know I am committed to you for life'
'No no no' she argued, 'we had an agreement, you said you wouldn't touch me till am eighteen'
'Baby, close your eyes and open them and you are eighteen already. I don't wanna lose you. Once I let you lose it to another man then you ll totally forget about me. You are beautiful, every man would wanna be the lucky one to do it. Please'.
Tonia insisted she wouldn't let him do it. But in one swift moment, he held her down and entered her. She was still so tight despite the two fingers he already inserted. She cried out in pain, but he never stopped, and after about five minutes, he pulled out. When she raised her head, she saw that the bedspread was a mess. There was blood everywhere. He had taken her virginity.

* * *

'I want to start going home now, happy birthday' she said while putting on her sandals.
'Honey wait, there's something I have to tell you'
'What is it?', she queried.
'I have a confession to make', he said.
'What is it?', she repeated.
'I have to tell you this, when I met you, it was not a coincidence, it was planned, and I will call it a set up. We had a bet on whether you would date me or not. There have been rumours around about how you snub guys, how you are so full of yourself and wouldn't let any guy come near you. Yet someone else told me you mess around, that you have slept with no less than five men in this estate, so I decided to try my luck. My neighbour told me not to, that you are an uptight bitch, and he also told me he came to you at a time but you didn't even give him a chance to talk at all. So being the newest guy around, I told him I would have you and we actually had a bet'
'Oh my God' Tonia wailed.
'Baby take it easy. They planned to use me against you and mock you later, I also wanted to catch fun, but the day I discovered you were a virgin, I changed my mind totally. And that was the day I stopped giving them feedbacks on our affair, cos earlier I always reported to them. But I must confess that am really in love with you. And with what happened today, you have my heart, and am promising you that you will always have me, I am going nowhere'.
With that, Tonia hugged him tight and smiled satisfactorily to herself. Her first man will be her only man. Wasn't she lucky?


* * *

He kept to his words, at least for the following six months. They made love three more times. And when the relationship was just few days to six months, he drove to her house. Then they were both in Lagos, cos they were neighbours too in Lagos as they were in Ogun.
'Tonia I need to tell you something'
Her heart skipped a bit, cos recently he had been acting strangely, he was always lost in thoughts when she spoke to him, and his responses to him were becoming vague.
'What is it?' she asked.
'I have been given 2 years visa to the U.S, and I ll be leaving next week.
'U.S? next week? Did u just apply for the visa? When did you go to the embassy? Since when have u been on this?
'Take it easy baby, I was supposed to tell you, but I didn't know it would click this fast, honestly I never knew they would give me, I was just trying my luck'
'Trying ur luck? Is it a lottery or what?'
'No, not lottery, I was given a student's visa'
'A student's visa and u are here telling me u were just trying ur luck, why are u this mean, why are u this heartless? You are leaving next week and ur just telling me', Tonia broke down in tears.
'Baby I am sorry, I don't know why I never mentioned it to u. I should have told u. Don't think it ll cause any problem between us. I can't leave you. I can never dump you for any other girl. All I need from u now is to believe me. Believe that I ll always be ur man, that for once I ll never forget you. I need u to be strong for me, to be strong for us, please baby'.
She kept crying till he left, she never responded to all his pleas.

* * *

Four days after he broke the news to her, he came back. He looked rough, like he hadn't been sleeping well.
'Honey are you okay?', Tonia asked.
'Yeah am fine'
'I don't think so, now tell me what the problem is, is it about leaving or what?' Tonia asked.
'Hmmm, not really. I think I need to let you know the truth at this point' he said.
'The truth? About what?'
'Listen Tonia, I am going nowhere, I never applied for any visa, I won't be travelling. I am just tired of this relationship. I need a break. We might come back together later, but right now I really need a break, I need to catch my breath. I have other things to pursue than wasting so much time on a relationship that could turn sour at the end, please let me go, am not feeling it anymore.
'What?' Tonia screamed, and held her face in hands, sobbing into them.
He took his car keys, and drove off.
That was their official break up, though they saw and got down many times after then, but it was never the same.
Now, why had Tony brought this man to be her witness?

* * *

The second person she saw was Rolake, her roommate for three years in the University. Rolake was a very close friend. They were so close to the extent that people tagged them lesbians. She was so protective of her that she never let any man come near her. And the only one who dared come near her, Rolake made sure she frustrated him to the point that he almost ran, if not for the fact that he truly loved her. They dated off and on for six years. Again, she wondered what Rolake had to say as her witness.

* * *

The third person she saw as her witness was Tolu, the babe with whom she rocked her final year. Though they had always been friends and were coursemates , she got close to Tolu when she had a fight with Rolake some days before they finished their penultimate session exam. It was a big fight that made her decide she would not live together with Rolake again, in spite of how much she begged. Her closeness with Tolu caused an enmity between Rolake and Tolu which was so embarrassing to Tonia, but it didn't stop her from being friendly with Tolu. Tolu got married few months before Tonia killed Timi. Fine, they were so close, but to what was Tolu going to testify?

* * *

The camera zoomed to the back, and the two other people she saw froze her heart, Sola, and Tosin, they were Timi's friends, and they were both there at the bar that night she stabbed him. Were these ones going to testify for her, or had the prosecution brought them to witness against her, to counter what Tunde, Rolake and Tolu would say? God, this could be a disaster.